AFP reported that Israel said Arafat could pay his condolences to the family of Leah Rabin, who died of cancer at the age of 72.

Asked by Israel radio if he was considering allowing Arafat to visit Israel to pay his respects, Israeli cabinet minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said: "Yes."

Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the first Oslo peace accord with Arafat in 1993, was slain in November 1995 by a right-wing Jewish militant opposed to handing over land to the Palestinians in exchange for peace.

Although Arafat did not attend Rabin's funeral in 1995, he later paid a condolence visit to Leah Rabin, said the agency – (Several Sources)